NEW YORK — It’s all but certain that Liam Hendriks won’t pitch for the Red Sox in 2024.
Hendriks, who recently had his rehab outing halted due to elbow soreness as he tried to complete the last steps of his recovery from Tommy John surgery, is “probably” going to be shut down from throwing in the coming days, manager Alex Cora said Thursday. Hendriks, who last pitched for Triple-A Worcester on Sept. 5, had an MRI to make sure there’s nothing serious going on with his elbow and the expectation is that the issue is a minor one.
“He had the MRI. Nothing structural,” Cora said. “They sent it to the doctor in Texas (Dr. Keith Meister), the one who performed the surgery. He’s taking a look at it and he’s going to let us know. But it seems like probably, we’re going to shut him down.”
Hendriks threw a series of live batting practice sessions in early August before beginning a rehab stint Aug. 18. He went on to a total of six appearances at Double-A and Triple-A and logged five shutout innings while allowing four hits and striking out three. After originally targeting last weekend’s series against his former team, the White Sox, as a potential return, Hendriks didn’t bounce back form his last outing well and the Red Sox decided to proceed with caution. Earlier this week, Hendriks expressed hope he’d still be able to get into a game or two before the season ends. At this point, that’s not looking like a realistic option.
“Soreness in the outside part of the forearm,” Cora said. “It doesn’t have to do with the surgery. It’s probably just part of the process.”
When the Red Sox signed Hendriks to a two-year, $10 million deal during spring training, the club envisioned having him as part of a veteran three-headed monster — along with Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen — at the back end of their bullpen by the end of the year. On Thursday, Cora said he had planned to mix and match Martin and Hendriks in the seventh and eighth innings ahead of Jansen if Hendriks did come back healthy. That vision won’t play out over the final few weeks of the season.
“Obviously, we’d get his feet wet early on but then after that, it was those three guys late in games,” Cora said.
Still, as long as he returns healthy next spring, Hendriks represents some sort of certainty in a bullpen that will likely undergo a significant amount of change before Opening Day. Martin and Jansen are both on expiring two-year contracts and will be free agents. Trade deadline additions Lucas Sims and Luis García, who are both injured, are free agents as well. Barring a re-signing or outside addition, Hendriks — a three-time All-Star who has 116 career saves — is the returning reliever with the most experience at the end of games. Young righties Justin Slaten and Zack Kelly should be part of the mix with Josh Winckowski, Luis Guerrero, Greg Weissert and Isaiah Campbell and lefties Brennan Bernardino and Cam Booser all under control as well.
Hendriks could very well be the veteran leader of that group in 2025.
“It’s good to have him. It’s important,” Cora said. “There was a reason he was here, because he wanted to be here. He had options. Signing him for two years was a good move by the front office.”
